Activity Forums Discussion What is gene drive?

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    • #1861
      Dr. Asim
      Participant

        What is gene drive, especially CRISPR gene drive? and what is it used for?

      • #1869
        Kim S
        Participant

          Gene drive is a genetic element that introduces a bias in the relative chance of inheritance between distinct versions of a set of genes, enabling one to spread rapidly in a population at the expense of others even if it is disadvantageous to the organism. Gene drives could be exploited for the genetic modification of whole populations, such as disease-carrying insects.

        • #1876
          Fazil Hussein
          Moderator

            CRISPR gene drive is used for production of malaria-resistant mosquitoes:

            https://bioinformaticshub.net/genetically-modified-mosquitoes-fighting-malaria/

            CRISPR/Cas9 technology is used to insert new genes in the mosquito egg. The insert contains not only the new gene sequences, but also sequences of Cas9 and its guide RNA. When a homozygous transgenic mosquito mates with a wild-type mosquito, the offspring should be heterozygous. However, one chromosome having the insert will work to edit the other one, making a homozygous offspring. This way, the new gene is not diluted, but rather driven in the population against Mendelian rules of heredity.

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